Papke's Landing fire takes out trailer

Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department (PVFD) responded to a fire call Sunday afternoon near Rory's Road at Papke's Landing, 10 miles south of town. The fire destroyed a 24-foot trailer home on the property being used as an office and led to a manufactured home sustaining significant damage, according to PVFD spokesman Dave Berg.

"The trailer, the one being used as an office, it was almost gone when we got there," Berg said. "The other one, the residence, the vinyl siding had pretty much melted off the side of the building because of the exposure to heat from the burning office."

After arriving on scene PVFD focused on a fifth-wheel trailer in close proximity to the office trailer. The fifth-wheel trailer had some flames and received some damage, including smoke damage, but firefighters were able to get hoses run and extinguish the flames, Berg said.

The call came in around 4 p.m., and PVFD was able to respond quickly because volunteers were doing pump training at Scow Bay. Due to the location out the road, some volunteers responded to Papke's and others stayed in town, in case another alarm went off in town.

"That saved us a lot of time to be able to get rolling," Berg says of the volunteers already being assembled at Scow Bay.

PVFD responded with one engine and a tanker truck, because anything beyond 4 mile is not on a hydrant system. Firefighters were able to extinguish the problem with one load of water.

Property resident, Chuck Berg said one dog got scared and ran off, but three other dogs on the property were fine. He and his girlfriend were in the house eating when they heard something sounding like firecrackers going off. The sound was the ammunition locker in the office going up, he said.

"My girlfriend walked out and panicked and said, 'It's fully involved,'" he said. "I walked out there and it was hopeless, but I went down there with a fire extinguisher anyway."

Berg received burns to his hand and received EMS attention. However, he was just happy that everything else didn't burn down along with the office, he said.

PVFD fire marshal Ryan Welde said the cause of the fire is unknown.